Rest in Peace, Patrick Murphy

Disclaimer: I own neither of these shows, but I also have strong feelings regarding the end of Season 4 of Republic of Doyle when I was left with WORDS: SPOILER. SPOILER! SPOILER. SPOILER. SPOILER? Sigh…

Patrick Murphy is Remembered

"This is nice." Danny pinched his lips together to keep from smiling. "I forgot how classy a party you people could throw."

Jake turned from singing, or rather swaying, along with a Great Big Sea track to frown at Danny. "Finish your drink and start another. You're behind." He turned back towards the group but at the last minutes swiveled back. "And lose the tie, people 'round here tend to use them to keep a'hold of you while they're beating the tar out of you."

Danny rolled his eyes and tugged at the tie. "Y'can't wear a tie on any island apparently." He mumbled into his pint as he signalled for a fresh one. Jake nodded his approval but his face quickly turned dark as– Danny fought off the alcohol clouding his brain to reach back for the name – Des bumped into him. Tinny was following close behind and rolled her eyes, a move she appeared to be well practiced at, as she watched the slight scuffle between the two.

Finally they got themselves untangled and Des was vibrating and twitching. Jake swiped a hand down his arm and sighed. "How many times do I have to tell ya, the fruity drinks are bad for you; the combination of sugar and rum turns you into even more of a mess."

Des stood up straight and laid a hand on Jake's shoulder. "As much as I truly appreciate the concern, it really does make me feel a part of this family, but I've been drinking Coke all night. No b'y, I've finally done it. I've hacked the DJ and changed his playlist."

As Jake glared down at the offending limb sitting on his shoulder, Tinny huffed. "Yeah, real difficult that one, eh. The guy running the CD player stepped away to visit the john and Des slipped in his own disc."

"Shh shh! Here it is!" Des's face broke open in a wide smile as the first strains of a Stompin' Tom Connors drifted out of the speakers.

The girls are out to Bingo and the boys are gettin' stinko and we think no more of Inco on a Sudbury Saturday night.

The 'DJ' noticed the different music and looked up in confusion so Des hustled over to him. The trio watched as he held up his hands and his nervous voice bounced back to them. "Now b'y, just replace 'Sudbury' with 'St. John's' and it totally works, right?"

Tinny shook her head and turned her back on him. "I told him to use 'The Hockey Song' instead, but he likes 'stinko' rhymed with 'bingo' too much." They reflected on that as they watched the crowd.

Des detached himself from the DJ and his buddies and rushed back to Tinny, Jake, and Danny. "Okay. Not a good decision to try out my hacking during a wake." Tinny sighed and rolled her eyes but still passed him his glass back.

They were settled back into their drinking when Sergeant Hood passed through the door, scanned the crowd, spotted Jake, huffed, and waded through the people to find him. "Doyle. We need to talk. Tinny and Des, maybe you should find a different spot to sit." Tinny pulled a protesting Des behind her after giving the officer a nod. Hood squinted at Danny. "Who're you?"

"You don't remember him?" Jake grinned a smile with a hint of malice. "Sure, you remember ol' Danny-boy from your early years on patrol!"

"Danny...Williams? Hasn't this city suffered enough?" Hood's mouth turned down and he plopped his hands on his hips.

Jake crossed his arms and leaned back against the bar. "Aw, ignore him, he's just sore you kept all your hair. Hood here grows the goatee to bolster the southern part of his head."

Danny scratched his head and searched for something to say that might raise Hood's opinion of him...but then again, there wasn't anything that could lower it. "I'm a cop now."

Hood rolled his eyes. "Someone help that city. Now leave mine."

"Be nice. He flew in from Hawaii." Jake stepped in.

"New plan. You stay here and I'll take your flight back."

"New new plan, you tell us what's got you all sweaty." Jake waved his hands in the air.

Hood huffed, "Fine. You involved in stealing another body?"

"No!" Jake looked offended.

"Stealing a body? Wait. Another body?" Danny's eyes widened and he stared at Jake. "When did you steal the first one? I know we had some wild days when we were growing up, but this? I mean, sure, we thought about it, but we were never stupid enough to actually go through with it."

Danny went for a breath but Jake was faster. "Shut it. It was for a case, we returned it, and we suffered enough." He turned to Hood. "I did not steal a body."

"I know. We got a call right around the time from Mrs. Duffield complaining about two men drinking on the top of this building. Christian confirmed it was you." Hood smirked a bit; it wasn't often he got Jake Doyle off-balance. "But I didn't say you stole it, I asked if you were involved." He raised his eyebrows as he waited for an answer.

Jake pointed a finger at Hood. "No. I did not plan, help, or hide an attempt to steal a dead body." He grabbed his pint off of the bar. "Who'd you lose?"

Hood made a face at Jake. "We didn't lose anyone. The funeral home lost your grandpa."

Beer flew out of Jake's mouth and Christian, who happened to be walking by at the moment, gasped and shook his fist at his brother, "Waste! That's good ale!" Jake responded with a gesture as he was too busy coughing to clear his lungs to get any words out.

"Why is Jake coughing his lungs out? Hi Danny, I heard you were back in town." Mal came up from behind Hood, shook Danny's hand and smacked his son on the back. "Can't you hold your liquor?"

"Very funny." Jake croaked out. "Hood said Gramps is gone."

"That's why I'm here. Put down the beer, we're going to help Abram find him."

Danny put his hand up. "Who?"

"Abram's the night watchman who's on duty and reported the break-in." Hood answered, he waited for a beat and then added, "He's, uh, known to us."

Jake was busy drinking down the last of his pint and Danny, realizing he had a fresh pint he hadn't touched, looked at the glass. Christian, whose timing seemed to be impeccable, sauntered up and grabbed it. "I'll finish that up for you and stay as the family representative. Go on Jake, do your job." For this he got a scowl, but Christian just laughed.

"Why do we have to go now? It's the middle of the wake and it's just getting good." Jake frowned into his empty glass.

Mal sighed. "If we don't find the body, there won't be a funeral. If there's no funeral, this wake was for naught. Come on, clearly I'm driving."